Google is expanding Gemini beyond a standalone assistant by bringing more third-party services directly into the Gemini app. The September 23, 2026 Connected Apps update adds productivity, creative, and lifestyle integrations that users can invoke without switching between multiple applications.
New categories of integrations
Google lists productivity services including Airtable, Linear, monday.com, PandaDoc, Wispr AI, and Zoho. Creative integrations include Adobe, Picsart, Squarespace, and Webflow. Lifestyle services include apartments.com, Experian, Peloton, and SeatGeek.
How users access them
Users can connect supported services through Gemini settings or invoke them in a conversation using an @ mention or a direct request. The goal is to make the assistant a common interface across several applications.
Why connected apps matter
The value of an AI assistant increases when it can act on the information it is discussing. A project-management question can lead to a task update, a creative request can involve a design service, and a planning question can use information from another connected system.
This also changes the engineering requirements. Integrations need authentication, scoped permissions, reliable tool schemas, error handling, and clear user visibility into actions performed by the assistant.
Enterprise considerations
Businesses considering connected assistants should review what data is shared with each integration and what actions the assistant can perform. Least-privilege access and clear user authorization become increasingly important as assistants move from reading information to changing records.
Practical takeaway: Connected Apps are part of a broader shift from chatbot interfaces toward AI as an application layer. The important measure is not the number of integrations, but how reliably and safely they complete useful cross-application tasks.